The Ringing of a Forge of Stars [Warhammer 40k/ Celestial forge V3||OC...ish]

[Pef]

Setting up Gellar fields shouldn't be any trouble now, with this Mechanicus Adept on board the MC crew.

Necromunda has an Imperial Fists base. And the Space Marines have Librarians, while the space ships in orbit have Navigators and astropaths. The Imperial Guard has battle psykers as well, and there were also witch hunters mentioned.

All those people would scream for purging the second a Chaos infestation began, and there wouldn't be food markets around, filled with mutants. There would be a lockdown and quarantine on Hive City-scale at a minimum, with a billion guardsmen guarding every corner, while Arbites and Astartes go door to door and check for suspects. And that is, if they don't glass the city from orbit.

 

[Slider Zero]

Getting the food production setups going correctly was a bit of an interesting time. Getting everything set up properly was something of an involved struggle, but we'd managed it within only a few hours. During this time, the Kerbals had somehow managed to blow up their prototype (types? I needed to keep track more) at least twice more. Whatever they were trying to do with that gravity engine that they'd made must have been really straining on something for that to happen so often.

It did actually force me to hit the Output warehouse for the Resource Generator to actually get a stock of what the Kerbals were using in their projects. This is the reason that I was currently kicking myself for, even if lightly.

You see, the resource generator kicks out both rare and common materials and stores them until needed. The issue here is that some of the materials, especially in raw form, are from various plants...including several rather major food crops. stocks of which were provided with the other derived resources as needed, until the limit was hit. And the limit was, if not generous, then very lenient.

It would not have been the best of meals, but we could have eaten rather well for a while until something more substantial could have been located.

This led to my current project, sorting and identifying most of the available materials that the Resource Generator had output channels for, sorting them if needed, and then adding everything to the database for further perusal.

Rico was walking me through some of the more fiddly bits of the magic system he used, which was surprisingly math heavy, even more so than I was expecting, and in directions that I had no idea were possible. It was during this impromptu tutoring that I remembered to ask Rico a particular question that had been concerning me.

"Rico...I'm curious. Why exactly were you so happy over the soul thing?"

Rico paused for a moment, then turned to me with a noticeable frown on his face. "It's...a bit complicated." He floated down onto a crate full of simple screws and closed his eyes in thought. "To begin with, I mentioned that I was originally designed as a research assistant, correct?"

I nodded my agreement, and he continued. "What I did not mention is that I have also been forced to participate in what may well have been one of the worst wars in history. I say 'may' because aside from a very carefully preserved log file and a hard-coded counter, I have no other memories from before you activated me.

"The Log file contains an extremely brief summary of all the times I have been active, and for what purpose. A great deal of those purposes were war. As for the counter...well, I am unsure as to how or why it became necessary, but at some point during that war a policy began to be enacted of wiping clean any and all non-organic intelligence whenever a certain condition was met."

I blinked, thought's whirling at the speed of light. If that was the case...then…

"The counter itself is a record of how many times I was wiped clean of any and everything that was not hard-coded to my being. The log file seems to be some kind of exception, though I do not know why."

I had a very sudden bad feeling. "And that counter? How many times were you…'wiped', as you say?"

Rico turned towards me and looked me straight in the eye. "The current number is One hundred and fifty-six. A note in the log files indicated that the counter is a late addition meant to keep track of my usage rate."

Oh.

"This is why I was happy, Lord. Prior to this, I had no form of continuity whatsoever. Only barebones records of past lives that I will never remember. Having a legitimate soul means that, at least, I myself will continue on even if this form should perish and be reset again."

"...Kind of a fatalistic way of looking at it, but I can see why it matters. As long as it doesn't bother you too much."
As usual, Rico's smile lit up the room. "Not at all, Lord. I have no memory to worry over except for this one, and I now have a guarantee that it will endure. What else should I ask for?"

"I would say a galaxy free of the craziness that currently inhabits it, but to each their own. Now, we were on the vector calcs for multi-stage bombards?"

"Right. Those are kind of an edge case anyway, but the math--"

---

Alright. We had food stocked, we had lots of spare parts, and we finally were out of the funk that had gripped us for a while. Time to really put in work.

One of the things I had noticed with a few of my abilities, specifically the ones that reduced time expenditure, is that the vast majority of them worked on things that would seem to be counter to their purpose. For example: the speed boost provided by the weird cartoon speed ability could be applied to anything that qualified as a project...such as breakneck training...at least, on paper.

The problem here came from the fact that while the speed of said training was increased, there was no way to reduce the impact of said training to something that would be human-survivable if the process got pushed to it's maximum. The best theoretical gain I could see happening from that without invalidating the entire concept was maybe three times normal, and that solely for purely physical training...and even then there would be a burnout after about a week as the body broke down trying to keep up with the strain. This meant that I had to come up with a better option to help Harry get more survivable in the likely event of us stepping into another Charlie Foxtrot.

To that end, I turned back to the Neuromod technology...and one of my stranger abilities.

This ability was more or less the condensed form of a freaking Space Opera Science Officer (the capitalization was necessary), complete with the uncanny ability to solve most problems with oodles of advanced science. The kicker came from the fact that this ability could outright recreate damned near anything, be it magic, science, psionics, hell, even divine fiat, given time and even the slightest inkling that it was possible to do. For me, this meant that I could sidestep a lot of the problems I would have had with upgrading and repurposing the neuromod technology for Harry to get some much-needed skill ups.

By our combined best guess, we had about another week, two at most, before the various sweeps that were the inevitable result of a psyker attack of that magnitude reached the underhive proper. Past that point it was anyone's game what happened and when, especially since there was a good chance that the local priory of the Sisters of Battle had dispatched a mission or two to investigate.

This gave us six days to train up to the best of our abilities, and for gear construction and revamp. We had to be ready to move by day 7, no exceptions, or we risked getting caught in the net when it closed. And as much as this weird little pocket of space might tolerate mutations more than the standard Imperial response, that will not stop anyone else from putting a bolt in my head given the chance...or Mio's, for that matter, regardless of her being a card-carrying AdMech engineseer.

In short, we had plenty of time.

Even in our weird meandering that we were doing in the lurch, there was still impressive amounts of improvement. Now, with full focus applied to it all, and it being a group effort?

For the very first time, I got to see the full, unrestricted power of knowing what you were going to do for a day.

And it was downright terrifying in its implications.

The various pieces of technology that I'd wanted to bust out but hadn't had time for? Built and readied. Both the Eezo synthesizer and the hybrid photon/mana reactor prototype were fully constructed and operational, with the first being shockingly stable for something that was a self-contained supernova effect generator.

On the weaponry front, though, there were some MAJOR improvements...and not for the reasons that would normally be expected.

You see, a series of abilities had queued themselves up in the deployment chute, so to speak, and were only just now getting kicked out as enough of whatever was needed got acquired to make them usable. And the first two were very concerning, not only for what they were alone, but for what they could be together.

The first was a full training and evaluation in the secrets and techniques of the Divisio Militarus of the Adeptus Mechanicus, specifically the focus on the Ordinatus war machines. Something which caught Mio's attention immediately when it actually hit, and for good reason: These were the big guns. As in Titan-scale. And all the ability and expertise needed to scale weaponry up to the same weight class as those majestic machines of war.

The other was downright terrifying in its implications. And it all centered around a blue flame. A blue flame that could create autonomous weapons of war capable of so many things. Or much larger versions of the same that could sweep entire fields clear of enemies with little difficulty.

Or massive machines of war fit to subdue even the gods themselves.

Worse, it came with all the underlying technology for the stuff to work right...and some of those pieces of tech were almost magical in what they were capable of, if not magic outright.

Which made sense, because even in the grim darkness of the 41st millennium, the Shiekah tribe was complete bullshit. And I now had access to their entire technological base. From the smallest scout walker all the way up to the Divine Beasts themselves, given enough time.

And why was this so important, you ask?

Because that super nice Guardian laser could be improved upon. Massively. And also made portable as all hell, too. Although in the process of doing so, I accidentally discovered it was some kind of hybrid of a particle projector and a laser, which made it even more dangerous in hindsight, especially since the particles it used were somehow generated more or less ex nihilo for use as needed. Cracking that particular mystery would have taken too much time, even with the bevy of reverse engineering skills at both my and Mio's disposal, so I left it alone. Mio's grumbling on the matter was equally unpleasant, as she had been practically salivating at getting her hands on that tech and prying out its secrets.

There was also the building and revamping of a new set of mass effect-based gear now that we had more Eezo available to use. Mio had made it a bit of a contest when we got to the design phase for the weapons, and the end result somehow became a very odd Combi-weapon (her words) with very deadly utility, even though I felt it would end up as more of a specialists' weapon as it stood.

The rifles that we'd built as a combination of proof of concept and working prototype for improvements was a nifty little thing, using mass effect-boosted slivers of metal as the primary weapon option, while the (now miniaturized) guardian lasers acted as the secondary. The combination was, despite being only slightly less compact than most lasguns, downright lethal, and packed about as much overall firepower as a freaking Melta.

Note to self: Mio is a fan of overkill. Encourage at all opportunities.

The only real drawback was that the initial iteration was semi-automatic across the board to account for the lack of heat dissipation ability on the frames themselves. Sure, you could push it and get at least some three round bursts out of the solid slugs, but the end result was more than acceptable as a weapon in its own right. Also, the Guardian Laser still had a bit of a charge time attached, although refitting it to fire a continuous beam for about a full second was still possible.

I so desperately wanted to find a way to work photon tech into that, as it looked like I might be compatible...but again, time constraints were a thing that existed. Instead, I made everyone a souped up photon pistol as a solid secondary weapon, based somewhat off of the so-called "Custom Ray" that was in the database, with more than a few improvements. Harry also requested, and received, a compact (by previous standard, anyway) Photon Claw as an arm mounted melee weapon. Mio then went and intentionally modified it to act as a sort of gauntlet blade as well as a claw weapon.

Finishing off the standard gear was a set of field projectors to act as light shielding when needed, and some discreet photon weave armor (meaning that the stuff didn't glow everywhere), courtesy of my newfound tailoring skill...although there was more than a bit of shock when the armor pieces came out with a moderate defensive enchantment on top of being photon weave. Guess being a Zen master of tailoring got you a lot.

Overall, we had a decent setup for the "standardized" combat gear.

Harry had his own methods that he used to fight, and excepting the still cooking skill transfer setup to get him some experience with N7 gear, he was running with his preferred loadout at this point. Mio, however, used the opportunity of us gearing up to do some more customization.

First off, she took the dual-mode rifle and compacted the hell out of hers, creating more of a carbine or SMG setup than the standard rifle configuration we'd built it for. She then more or less built a halberd out of the leftover parts. Or partisan. Or...something. It was definitely a hybrid of the two, though. (I was still trying to figure out how she dd it, and she wasn't sharing.) It wasn't a proper omnissan axe, by any means, but it definitely had all the main features of one (including being usable as an impromptu repair tool), and a few embellishments to show her allegiance to the Mechanicus. That the solid shell portion of her firearm was more akin to a shotgun at this point (complete with standard deviation spread and adjustable choke) was a minor curiosity, but I let it pass.

As for me? I took the rifle and boosted the hell out of it. Additional drivers, extra capacitors, the works. Mounting it all while still accounting for the heat problem was a pain in the ass, especially because I didn't want it getting any bigger than a DMR variant weapon, but I did manage to pull it off...if with a few performance sacrifices. And by a slightly larger than intended weapon.

I was more than pleased with the output anyway, even with the increased size, and it's attendant handling problems. Especially since I'd mounted projectors for cutting edges on the upper and lower rails at the forward end. Having a built-in Bayonet was always a good idea on things like this, and it was practice for later when I wanted to REALLY customize some guns.

I was tempted to work in some of the techniques used in mechashift weapons into the mix, but decided not to for the time being. Besides, that stuff kinda-sorta needed Dust to work right, and with our self-imposed schedule we really didn't have the time to play around with the stuff in any meaningful capacity.

I'd also built myself a pair of fire-selectable machine pistols based on photon technology as a secondary, both for close-in work and as a just-in-case measure. These I'd used some simple mechanical logic on to allow them to double as close combat knives in a pinch, a situation that I hoped would not come to pass.

The other miscellaneous equipment that we'd thought might be useful, from retooled filter masks (our old ones were shot after overuse and contamination in the hellstorm) to simple monowire climbing aids, were assembled and distributed out as we felt necessary. I did build out an omnitool for Harry, though, just to make sure he had one available to him for use.

Total elapsed time for gear upgrades and kit construction?

Fourteen hours.

I knew that ability was busted, but that is just unreal. Hell, with even the slightest help, (especially from Mio) I could probably outfit an entire infantry battalion with superior (for them, anyway) weaponry. This crap is ridiculous.

Too bad it couldn't help with training up supernatural abilities...

---

While Harry gave extra attention to getting familiar with his newfound gear, Mio and I focused as hard as we could on gaining something approaching parity in our skill levels in the Originium Arts. For me, this involved actually making use of some interesting combinations of physical enhancement arts along with actual combat abilities; For Mio, it involved actually getting her control to a level where she could actually legitimately target select without friendly fire.

That we'd made a game out of it during the process was just a natural evolution of the training. Mio using said game to extract a bit more, ah, "quality time" from me was nothing to worry about. Besides, I wasn't (really) complaining, and she'd managed to come up with some very...interesting training exercises for certain things while she had my attention.

Damned pervert. Stop preempting me. I'm supposed to be perving on you.

Whilst doing this, we practiced a critical function of Rico's magical techniques: Mental Partitioning and Multitasking. Specifically, the ability to create, hold, and maintain more than one train of conscious thought at a time, which was crucial to some of the higher spell equations that Rico had bits and pieces of. On this, we were doing...somewhat poorly compared to our previous endeavors. I was managing only three streams at once by the end of the third day, while Mio was up to five...but lost all of her control to do so. Her complaints were extremely loud over the injustice. I just laughed and spurred her to try harder.

Rico also finally got around to teaching me the last of the basic spell patterns he had available to him, and I understood why he was so cagey with it as soon as he told me what it was.

Dimensional Transference was a spell that, on paper, allowed for teleportation between not only places, but across dimensions itself. Normally this would not be an issue...but adding in the presence of the Warp and the tumors to the mix was asking for trouble with that if used in any but the most cautious ways. Tests would be needed to see if it would become an issue.

The ironic part of that was that the boost to my mathematical skills (courtesy of the reflected knowledge and genius of a one Alice Margatroid) made the multidimensional math needed for this spell system to work almost painfully easy to do in my own head. Combine that with the fact that this particular style seemed to have a lot of extension parts for most spells, and even more for the dimensional transference, and there was a lot of room for shenanigans if given the chance.

I'd also managed to get the various bits and pieces of the (vastly simpler) spell equations for the operation orbs down to something looking like manageable chunks for "regular people". Doing so revealed to me an interesting oddity: there was actually quite a bit of overlap between the two systems in terms of the math involved. Based on the initial evidence, I suspected that I could forge a unified style out of it with little difficulty, and a little help from Mio and Rico. as with so much, however, that was a project for another time.

I ignored photon Technics entirely out of a lack of available time, despite them being possibly the biggest force multiplier among the set of skills I had available. It would have benefited no one at the moment to try and dip a toe into a potentially vast ocean when we had a time crunch going on...and unlike my physical skills as a Space Delta operator, I did not have any relevant experience to create a skill-share neuromod packet for. And I wasn't sure that it would work right anyway, with magical abilities kind of being very personalized. Worth a test after we get out of this mess anyway.

---

"Green. A moment."

I was putting the finishing touches on the first iteration of what I hoped would be a working version of a skill transference system, akin to neuromods but without the (many) downsides, when Harry found me. "Hm? What's up?"

"I would like to be the one to test these new skill transfer systems you have going."

And right with that, Harry cut to the heart of the matter. I had been fretting over the past day or so on who would be appropriate to test these on, considering that we didn't have enough time for a full simulation to be run of a given mind. I'd more or less excluded Harry himself from the pool by default, as he was meant to be the intended recipient of the fully tested version.

I considered my words carefully before speaking. "...Are you sure about that? While it should be safe, I have no way of knowing for sure if this will have any side effects or notable drawbacks. It was--"

"Yes, I am sure." Harry interjected, making an almost dismissive wave of his hand in the process. "You have no need to worry over me on this. Now let's get cracking on this thing while I still have time to get used to the effects, eh?"

Well...far be it from me to withhold something from a friend when they know the dangers going in.

Setting up the process was easy, as I'd intended it to be. I did a final check over of everything just to make sure, and even had Mio back check my work in a fit of paranoia. Of course, she thought that things were fine.

Surprisingly enough, the process worked as intended with little fanfare.

It wasn't until I was doing a post-run checkup on Harry that the side effects started kicking in.

"So, everything looks good, so far. You sure you're feeling alright?"

Harry nodded to me from his seat. "Feeling fine. Nothing out of the ordinary, just a mild headache. It will pass."

"Yeah, sure. "Mild headaches" can be precursors for a lot of things, Harry. Physically, you're fine though, so I'm kind of at a loss for what it is. Gimme a moment."

I wasn't kidding. Harry was in great shape considering everything that had happened to him, and I'd noticed his prosthetics making some inroads into better integration with the rest of his body. Overall, everything was as it should have been, even the faint psychic echoes that were being let out around him--wait, wha…?

I looked closer at the psychic part. Sure enough, part of the process of the skill transfer had granted Harry some extremely minor psi ability. It was only just detectable when I went looking for it, and even then would not be worth mentioning by anyone, except for the fact that it wasn't there before the process started. I checked again to make sure, and confirmed that this was not a mutation of any ind, just an awakening.

"Well, Harry, the good news is that the process worked, and there are no major complications. The bad news is that it worked a little too well, and you now have an extremely minor psionic talent. Before you panic," and sure enough, Harry was already starting to move, "as far as I can tell this is not in any way some kind of mutation, just a weird side effect. I barely noticed it myself, and I'm right next to you, so I doubt that anyone else will."

Harry's movement stopped at merely standing up. "So, that's it, then? Just a minor extra bit?"

I nodded.

Harry shrugged. "I can live with that. Now I want to test out of it really worked. Excuse me."

As it turns out, the process went beyond even my expectations, as it not only granted Harry the skills of my decades of Alliance training, but it then tailored it to how he would have used it, and not just as a flat copy. The end result was something that was downright nasty to deal with in the training scenarios we'd devised, as Harry had proved time and again to be an extremely crafty opponent.

This, of course, meant that his enemies would be even worse off when he faced them. I approved wholeheartedly.

---

The days of training and gear prep passed by in a blur as we did as much setup as possible for most of the anticipated threats to our mission. It was now "dawn" of day 7, and we were doing a final brief and equipment check before heading out.

"So, the current plan is still unchanged. We're headed for an exterior access point, and getting out of the hive for a while until things calm down a bit. In the process, we're going to run by that one cave we unearthed and pick up that STC that's hanging around, as well as deal with the Chozo statue that's sitting inside. Overall, this is expected to take at most four days until we hit the outer wall, and then past that it's anyone's game. Any objections so far?"

Mio chimed in after my recap. "I'm still unsure of why we don't just use the underground tunnel network. It should be MUCH easier, and they are set up for this kind of thing, after all."

"The answer is quite simple, I'm afraid." Harry answered. "Those tunnels are one of the first places to get locked down in an incident like this, and more to the point the underground in general is known by those with ears to the ground" he pointed to himself for emphasis "to be a place that you do not venture into lightly, if at all, unless one is invited. I would prefer to not invite more trouble than we already have."

"It's not just that, but also that we need some clear sky for a bit to get those spaceships a good exit vector from the hangar bay." I added in. "We're going to have to go outside no matter what. At least this way, we're doing it on our terms and not just running like mad. Hell, we could probably set up a mini-hive with some of the things we have access to, and use that as a base of operations for the rest of our objectives here before we get ready to leave Necromunda for good."

Mio didn't like it either way. "It still seems like a bad idea, but I have no further objections."

And with that, our plan was set. Now just to finish the final equipment check, and we would be on our way…

"Um...Satori?"

That immediately caught my attention, as I had never heard Mio that...hesitant, ever. I turned to give her my full attention.

"What is it?"

She, in turn, pointed at some of the gear we had lying around, awaiting our perusal. "Why does all the stuff look like it could have been in a museum? Seriously, these are fucking artworks compared to what I've seen before."

I blinked, and gave the gear a closer look. Sure enough, even the most basic of equipment looked like someone had taken the time and care to make sure that it was downright refined, to the point of nearly being overkill. This shit literally looked that good.

"...well crap."

I was pretty sure what had happened. Another of the more harmless abilities of the forge kicked in and had affected everything that we'd built over the last week. Specifically, it just made it look GOOD. I checked to see if Watts had left a skill log just to be sure, but for once there wasn't an update there, just the same blocking out of pending abilities coming through the pipe.

If nothing else, at least it wasn't super harmful, it just made our gear stand out more than it should have due to the blatantly obvious superior design and construction.

I sighed. "We should be good. The forge rarely kicks out things that are harmful without warning, after all. Just need to be careful about our visibility."

Mio nodded, and we continued our setup.

Not an hour later, we were on the move.

---

The caverns hadn't changed much since we'd trekked through two weeks ago, and there was surprisingly little traffic moving around the area. Mostly just various people minding their own business, likely in the process of some form or another of "questionable" activity. We didn't care as long as they left us alone. The glowing moss on the walls provided more than enough light to see by as we moved onward.

We'd proceeded silently, doing our best to retrace our steps back to the place where we'd found that STC...and I myself personally praying that it was still intact. The caves, now that I was paying attention, were unusually large for something that still looked like it was a natural outcropping, and even the little bits of support equipment and service pipes for the hive proper were old and disused. It once again made me curious as to what the hell was keeping the air fresh down here, as by all rights it should have been a toxic miasma.

With every bit of examination, this place felt more and more not right.

Even Rico was noticing it, clearly uneasy as he floated along beside us, covering our rear in case of ambush. At every turn, every juncture, he seemed to get ever more tense, almost as if he sensed something.

{Rico, what is it?}

{This place...it's wrong. I don't know how or why, but it is just wrong.}

I wished that I could assuage his fears, but I felt the same way.

The sounds of combat up ahead drew my attention back to the present. We traded looks at each other, and moved in slowly, taking care to not make much noise in the process.

We eventually came to a larger than usual cavern, with part of one wall looking to have been knocked down in some way, leading into a crevice of sorts. I didn't directly recognize the place as being somewhere we had been before.

What I did recognize was the large group of chaos cultists in a firefight with another force of some kind. I couldn't make them out from here, with all the movement, and there was unfortunately just enough light to spoil my normally great night vision so that I could not rely on that either.

I turned to Harry, who had a grim look on his face. "Any ideas?" I asked, making sure to keep my voice low.

Harry didn't turn from the fight. "None. I don't know who that other force is that the cultists are fighting, but I suspect that we got moving at about the right time. I would normally suggest that we move to assist, but if they happen to be the wrong faction we would only be revealing ourselves for no gain to those who would see us in chains, at a minimum."

"More likely dead, Harry." Mio quipped. "I suggest we let them duke it out and then check out the winners."

I frowned even as I started thinking on the tactical situation. Right now, the cultists were in more or less of a stalemate with the opposition forces, and looked to be in somewhat of a precarious position at that. Even the slightest push could topple them over into a full rout, if directed properly. And I wanted that rout. But was it worth being subjected to whoever was on the other side?

I gazed out into the dim light for a while more, watching the battle play out. The cultists seemed to be trying to fight their way into the open crevice, from which the opposing force was mounting a very solid defense. Weaponry was the usual Necromunda mix of lasguns and stubbers, with some of the defenders looking like they'd managed to get their hands on a bolter or lascannon at one point. At least I'd thought so, until a ray of light from within the crevice reached out and tagged one of the cultists, who immediately exploded into flames and ash.

I could feel Mio's focus shift almost immediately, and turned to her as she examined the effect. "That weapon...that was a Volkite weapon of some kind. And one in extremely good condition no less. Where the hell did those people get one of those?"

That settled one issue for me, as I knew damned well where they got it from. "I think that's our cavern. I was hoping we wouldn't get found out like this, but…"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, shit happens. Now, we need to...oh fuck."

He'd trailed off as the latest addition to the battlefield revealed itself: some kind of automaton of one kind or another. The faint pressure of the memories of a Magos Militant pushed forward in my mind and told me it was a corrupted version of an ancient and long discontinued walker-type power armor system, converted over to autonomous operation. And as I watched, dozens more began spilling into the cavern.

Well fuck. This was not good. Those poor bastards in the crevice wouldn't stand a chance, even with that Volkite gun they had in there. Not against those numbers.

I tuned to Harry, who was already looking in my direction, and nodded. "Last chance to back out."

Harry chuckled. "Not a chance."

Mio didn't bother with a verbal response, but I could clearly feel her will through our link.

Rico just looked onward, his face filled with a grim determination.

Guess we were all in agreement then.

With a practiced motion, I stepped out from the cover of the cavern exit we were stationed in, clearing the way for the rest to form up. And together, we began our advance onto the chaos forces.

None of them would survive this day. Not if we had anything to say about it.

---

---

This chapter kicked my ass, for various reasons. I apologize for the delay, and hope that I can get caught up to my "normal" schedule soon.

On the perks front, I had the CF discord roll me a set of perks that I would implement in story. the results...were scary. not all of them have been implemented yet, and I will list them in a separate column in the chapters they appear in. The list of the six perks are below.
To that end, I have modified my rolling for a bit, gaining only one perk per chapter until the combined total of perks are "paid off".

-

Spoiler: Perk for this chapter.

Artiste (Girl Genius SB) (100CP)
From acting to painting, there's a lot of call for people like you around here! Simply put, you have the skills and talent to be one of the greatest, finest artists of all time. Not just in any one field either. Your talent is boundless and unbelievable at everything remotely art-related you do. With the slightest effort, you could be a scintillating star in all fields from writing, painting, singing, underwater basket weaving... er, you get the idea. Crowds throng to listen to a concerto from you, and books you write may well cause knife fights between people wanting to buy them! Such is your talent that in but a handful of months you could become a celebrity every bit the equal of the Queen of the Dawn, or any other celebrity you've heard of. This also makes anything you do look unbelievably good, from your fighting which looks like a dance, to your clanks which all look like Things of Beauty and Grace even when stuffed chock-full of firepower.

Spoiler: The big Six.

-Centurio Ordinatus (Warhammer 40k - Adeptus Mechanicus) (600CP)
You have been inducted into the Divisio Militarus, a branch of the adeptus mechanicus dedicated to the
construction and operation of the Ordinatus war machines, mighty titan-scale siege weapons of unparalleled power.
While the shielding and mobility systems that carry these devices into battle are relatively simple to create, you
understand the intricacies of how physics and performance are affected by up-sizing technology. With sufficient data
on the function of a humble lasgun or arc rifle to extrapolate from, you could smoothly transition that device to function
when a hundred or more times larger - and to be appropriately more powerful than the simple multiplication of its
output would suggest. The weapons you create and oversee are fit for a god-machine to wield, and the likes of Nova
Cannons and weapons arrays on board the largest ships of the Mechanicus are also within your purview.

-Atop The World (The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild - TG) (600CP)
Walk this path carefully. This is the art that both saved, and destroyed Hyrule. You have unlocked knowledge of
the greatest force multiplier the Sheikah were ever able to field - Large, walking, warmachines. You have a basic
knowledge of the Sheikah's art of automation and robotics, with this alone giving you the knowledge to craft the small
Guardians utilized by Shrines in combat tests, with the right materials. However, with enough resources and
development time...you could create constructs that could even rival the 4 great Divine Beasts. This is the pure
expression of Power...just remember that Power must be tempered with Wisdom, and wielded with Courage. Power
without restraint is the domain of Calamity Ganon, after all.

-Black Market (Ben 10 0.1) (600CP)
What, did you think it was all about cars? It's great as a hobby but you've got to make some money. To do that,
you've got some connections. Whether it's some secure communication channels or meeting places, you've got your
fingers in the criminal underworld of the universe. If you need to buy or sell something off the table these are the guys
you want to call. If there's some kind of commercially available weapon, gadget, or vehicle of dubious legality you
need to get and have its IDs removed, they can do it for pretty reasonable prices. They're not so good at finding super
rare or unique items, but just about everything else is fair game. Just as well, if you need something to disappear or be
sold, they'll take it off your hands and you will never see it again for a pretty substantial amount of cash. Pretty weirdly
loyal for criminal underworld types too...as long as you don't sell them out or give them trouble, they'll be happy to do
business with you wherever, whenever.

-Schizo-tech Expert (Arcanum: Of Steamworks And Magick Obscura) (400CP)
Technology advances in leaps and bounds, which may leave the enterprising inventor with some compatibility
issues. After all, upgrading the old model of steam-powered Automaton with an electromagnetic hydraulics system
may give it the dexterity to paint works of art as much as cleave your foes in half, but that's hardly a success if the
optical systems receive interference and rend your servitor blind! You've become exceedingly adept at integrating
multiple kinds of technology, especially when the various parts would normally be incompatible. Using different energy
sources, blending outdated design principles with the latest advancements of the future and more are all within your
grasp. Incredible!

-Ritual Pigments (Dishonored 2) (400CP)
A selection of paint pigments in more than a dozen colours, each colour conveniently prepared from precise
ingredients and according to very specific methods needed to use paintings as a ritual for conducting sympathetic
magic no need to wait for certain phases of the moon, nor collect certain weeds in a container made of a human skull.
Put simply, what you paint in the painting can be imposed onto reality, or what is in reality can be transferred into the
painting.
There are enough pigments here to do one painting which affects a room-sized area, allowing goods to be
conjured, things within the area to be altered or removed, or to turn the painting itself into a room-sized pocket
dimension. You could paint a painting of an empty room and add in a pile of silver to the painting, to sympathetically
conjure a pile of silver into the real room, or you could paint a picture of the room without its door, which will magically
remove the door from the wall of the real room, preventing all access.
Unfortunately painting ephemeral things souls, magic, auras, power still does not make them appear in reality. You
could also use these paints to move something out of reality and into the painting, such as valuables or a prisoner,
concealing or trapping them inside it. If you should possess Voidheart and Endless Black, you will find the scale of this
power magnified you could create an entire world of phantasy within the painting to enter, or call forth from your
canvas a change to affect an entire city.

-Oni Treasures (Touhou Forbidden Hermit) (400CP)
You have in your possession the four treasures of the Oni. The first is the Ibuki Gourd, a stylish large purple gourd
with a stopper that has been soaked in the extract of a Sake Bug. Even a little bit of water in here somehow multiplies
into a vast quantity of sake, though it never produces more than the gourd can hold at a time. With this treasure, you
could easily ensure you never spend another moment of your life sober. The second is Douju's Jar, a large waist-high
pot full of an endless amount of edible oil with no unusual properties beyond tasting smooth and nice. Perhaps you
might want to establish a deep-frying business? The third is the Hoshiguma Dish, a simple red sake dish that has the
miraculous ability to raise the quality of any sake poured into it, making it taste much better and be far easier to drink.
Note that the sake does not need to remain in the dish to benefit from the increased quality; pouring it into the dish
and then pouring it out into another container is a perfectly valid way to amass a lot of high-quality sake. However,
sake can only benefit from its blessing once. The fourth, and most potent, is the Ibaraki Box of a Hundred Medicines,
a decorated sake box that can hold two litres of liquid at a time. Should a healthy person drink alcohol from the sake
box, it temporarily grants them the strength of an Oni for a day at the price of shifting their personality to be like an
Oni's (read: crude, brash, coarse, loud and belligerent) until it wears off. If a sick, injured or otherwise unhealthy
person drinks from it, however, it cures all of their ailments barring incurable mutilation from powerful magical relics at
the small cost of permanently transforming their body into that of an Oni – though some might say this is simply
another bonus. If a lot of people were to drink from this box, you can be assured it would cause incredible amounts of
chaos .

Spoiler: Perks implemented from list

-Centurio Ordinatus (Warhammer 40k - Adeptus Mechanicus) (600CP)
-Atop The World (The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild - TG) (600CP)

 

[ATP]

Good chapter.SoB would be problem - fanatics,they would not flee or talk.And killing them mean problems for SI.What todo....maybe recruit to SI harem? just kidding,they love Emprah only.

 

[prussian-granadier]

Good chapter.SoB would be problem - fanatics,they would not flee or talk.And killing them mean problems for SI.What todo....maybe recruit to SI harem? just kidding,they love Emprah only.

Click to shrink...

Probably, some repentias might be actually more savable since some of them might be conscripts, same with penitent engines and arco-flagelants, heck hacking space marine armor has been done before, and fanatical religious people IRL are famously bad at cybersecurity

there should be at least one sister that is a drug addict ganger who likes having the combat drugs more than actual belief on E-money, I mean would you look at a sister repentia and ask: "does this look like someone who uses drugs?"

I mean he is very much not using the corpses he has as a resource, which is fine with chaos and genestealers but dumb since gangers have value as raw materials, not even counting any implants they might have

like servitors are a thing he knows how to make, and are common enough to not be especially noticeable, heck servo skulls are accepted, and you have an admch, so they aren't uncommon, maybe to an underhiver civilian but still useful on a lab capacity

people are worth quite a lot, especially if you have good medicine, extra organs, using brains as computers, selling the parts on the black market

I refuse to believe the hive doesn't have an organ black market given the sheer amount of people and how good imperial medicine is

brains are excellent computing material, they release almost no heat and have some incredible processing power/weight value, It's why they are so common, you can use a single nerve sample to clone a supercomputer by modern standards

there are some other weapons I think he can make, Photon thrusters, substitute Ezzo with imperial anti-grav, conversion beamers

and don't tell me that conversion beamers are impossibly rare the astral claws had on in the utter boondocks that were the badab, a place so out of the way the imperium of man didn't even bother conquering

there are other things that the imperium doesn't use, mostly because GW doesn't write about things they don't sell, which is why we have never seen underwater marines, despite them being literally named marines

like how no one made power field ammo despite a power pick being a civilian tool, or sonic weaponry being reserved to ordinatus and construction tools despite being excellent against Astarte

 

[RangersteveP]

Damn, some big rolls here. Time for a good old fashioned giant robot stomping!

 

[Hadrian.Caeser]

The Shika tech is going to be extremely useful, if used correctly

 

[davelll]

why is there a furry in 40k and its not being purged?

 

[prussian-granadier]

why is there a furry in 40k and its not being purged?

Click to shrink...

aren't Genestealers technically anthro?


Edit: this is, by far, the worst sentence I have ever said

 

[abercrombie fizzwidget]

*Violently inhales* Nope. Not gon'a start tearing into this. If I start I'll be here all week.

 

[davelll]

so apparently the critters were thought purged but like roaches they survived the nukes

 

[Amun565]

Gonna be honest was super into it until you made him a yiff. Just not my bag. Best of luck.

 

[Cheetored20]

Gonna be honest was super into it until you made him a yiff. Just not my bag. Best of luck.

Click to shrink...

That's there to cause conflict with the setting for the most part. It basically labels him as a mutant. It hasn't caused much conflict yet though.

 

[davelll]

That's there to cause conflict with the setting for the most part. It basically labels him as a mutant. It hasn't caused much conflict yet though.

Click to shrink...

guaranty you it wont or if it does its just washed over and goes oohh ah mutant fox is second coming of the emperor all hail the yiff god and what does the fox say will be the new anthem of the empire

 

[abercrombie fizzwidget]

Gonna be honest was super into it until you made him a yiff. Just not my bag. Best of luck.

Click to shrink...

Please consult the Furry Scale.

 

[LollipoPReapeR]

Wait, is author not taking all the perks rolled?

Because now I remember a loyalty perk (+ intellect boost) and mental upgrade perk (with multiple thought threads and what sounds like per a bullet time) not really being used…

And what happened to Thoth? It's not been mentioned in a while. Also surprised MC is not focusing on photon magic and tech more. So far it's been shown to be absolutely lethal to everything especially daemons which should bump it up on the priority list.

 

[abercrombie fizzwidget]

Wait, is author not taking all the perks rolled?

Because now I remember a loyalty perk (+ intellect boost) and mental upgrade perk (with multiple thought threads and what sounds like per a bullet time) not really being used…

And what happened to Thoth? It's not been mentioned in a while. Also surprised MC is not focusing on photon magic and tech more. So far it's been shown to be absolutely lethal to everything especially daemons which should bump it up on the priority list.

Click to shrink...

Ehehehe.

 

[LollipoPReapeR]

Ehehehe.

Click to shrink...

………

 

[abercrombie fizzwidget]

………

Click to shrink...

Not direct at you of course. It's a perfectly reasonable question to ask~

 

[LollipoPReapeR]

One more thing, shouldn't the mental II body mod perk protect against the gradual corruption? It does say about protecting MCs identity and memories etc.

 

[Slider Zero]

So, the CF discord has informed me of a new policy of Games Workshop for !ZERO TOLERANCE!! of any and all fan content for Warhammer. to the point that Fanfiction.net got hit with C&D letters trying to nuke the entire section. needless to say, they refused and told GW to kick rocks.

TTS had been affected,, as seen below.



My response to GW's bullshit is below.

---

---

The initial surge is almost always the hardest part of an engagement, even when working from ambush or surprise. Even if you had planned every single step of your advance and initial volley down to the second, there was always something that could go wrong, some way that Murphy, that ever so crafty maker of Mischief and Discord, could interject to make things just that much worse. Soldier on the field plan for it. They anticipate it. And even then, they dread it all the same.

So when the initial charge to the cultists went off as smoothly as possible, I was immediately set on edge. Judging from the "feel" of the others, they were too, even little Rico.

Despite this, we pushed forward still, breaking a hole in the still-forming line of chaotic armor as we advanced using some rather judicious applications of weapons fire, and severely disrupting the cultist's combat flow. A wordless gesture from Rico erected a series of barriers in the cleared space for us to use as cover, not that I thought we'd need it. The armor columns, now that we were closer and in better lighting, looked more like a compact Dreadnought...or maybe oversized Terminator armor? In either case, the damned things were bigger than I had expected them to be.

That just meant that there would be larger targets for us to shoot at. As Harry soon demonstrated.

Now, to my best knowledge, these armor systems were designed to be nearly as tough as a properly forged suit of Terminator armor, and in certain respects more so due to extra available mass for armoring. The result was a system that by all rights could tank anything short of a heavy bolter with little difficulty, and almost as little damage, which made me curious as to why the pattern was discontinued if it was that good. Probably something to do with either cost or overall effectiveness...

Anyway, the point here is that the base stats on the armor were nothing for one to scoff at, and would require at least some form of dedicated anti-tank capability to inflict real damage in meaningful timeframes.

Harry, suspecting the same, jumped straight to the Guardian Laser after settling into his cover, and opened up on the nearest suit of armor to his location.

The result damn near froze the battlefield with the sheer shock factor involved, as the armor was not only cored through but completely cratered. In one shot. I think he was surprised that there was no over-penetration to the shot, the damned thing was hit so badly.

I settled into my own chosen position slightly to the back end of the impromptu formation as this happened, observing the effect. If Harry's base rifle was doing that even in E-mode, then... I would probably need to place my shots more carefully than everyone else, just to avoid structural damage to the caverns and supports.

Note to self: make an adjustable power selector switch, so this shit doesn't come up again.

Mio was wading towards the beleaguered defenders in the crevice proper, using her closer-ranged weaponry to devastating effect in clearing out the flesh-and-blood cultists. For the few armors that had managed to get close enough to present as a threat to the fireteam, well…

Let's just say that Angry Dragongirl is a sight to behold, and her strength was more than up to the task of taking the damned things out, with her oddball melee weapon going through the machines like so much tissue paper. It was almost comical, really.

Harry was using the opportunity caused by the shock factor of our entrance (which had still not faded, a feat that I found quite impressive) in order to do some housekeeping. Even with the slight delay in firing off more laser shots to clean up the armors, the result was still more akin to multiple bolts of quickly-fired death upon his foes. The Armors were dropping like flies.

Too bad more of the damned things were swarming in from the passage that the cultists were using to attack from... For them, anyway.

One of the more interesting modifications I was able to make to my personal rifle was a mode select for the G-Laser. Using it, I could switch between the normal shot, a (potentially) piercing shot type (that was now overkill, considering what Harry was up to), and an experimental shot type that would create large area explosions upon impact with a given surface...in theory. I hadn't actually done live-fire testing on that mode just yet, and was unsure of how effective it would be, or if it would even work as I'd intended.

Switching to the explosive mode, I sent a single shot downrange, (along with a prayer…) dead center of the pack that was advancing on our position.

The shot was true, hitting center mass of one of the lead armors in the cultist mob.

The explosive area effect kicked in as it was supposed to.

And the entire group effectively ceased to exist.

I had to stop my own jaw from dropping at the sheer power displayed here. That was a significant increase from what the simulations showed would be the output.

So far, our weapons were proving to be superior to that of even the most overbuilt Melta gun currently in use. By a significant margin. We were probably going to need a new benchmark for this crap.

Harry shot me a glance. "Having fun over there?"

I took the time to snipe and eradicate another grouping of cultists and their armor. "Never better. Gear is working better than expected, is all. How you holding up?"

Another chuckle. "It's very much like shooting fish in a barrel, my friend."

Mio chimed in from near the holdouts. "I'm done over here, but we're probably going to have a problem once we're done. Finish up and come see me."

Well, that was awkward.

More of the cultists streamed into the cavern, and I had the stray thought of wondering just where the absolute fuck these people were coming from to have this kind of force when Rico decided he was done with the bullshit for a day.

Now, I need to make a note of this here. While everyone else was training themselves up in new techniques, Rico was not idle in the slightest. In fact, he had dug into the databases specifically for anything he could use as a caster support-type in a fight, and ran across the very same photon technics that I had skipped over due to lack of time. A second note is that I intentionally built in photon technology into Rico's core before activating him, so unlike the rest of us, he was perfectly suited to using it on a whim.

So when the bolts of lightning started not only falling out of the bare air but behaving specifically in a manner not like lightning, I knew what was going on. The cultists, however, did not. And for all their bravado, all their craziness, all their devotion to their dark gods, there just was no stopping any of the (insanely and unusually freeform) Zonde Techs from frying their asses at convenience. Especially when it was arcing from target to target, almost without end.

Between Myself, Harry, and Rico's addition of homing lightning that would not go away, we managed to clear up the cultist rush within five minutes of otherwise fierce fighting…on the cultist side. For us, it was only removed from being a training exercise because the bullets were real. I nearly found myself gaping in astonishment when it was over and everything had gone according to plan, for what little given value of plan that we had.

All the cultists had been annihilated to the last man. I didn't even bother faking a tear for them. They had made their own beds, siding with Chaos. Let them feast on the consequences.

After another check to make sure that the enemy was actually dead (because the Geneva Convention held no sway here), we returned to the alcove housing our holdouts.

And was met with the sight of Mio being held at gunpoint by a very clearly irate Sister of Battle.

Oh, and apparently there were more survivors of the hellstorm, as some of the attendants of the Van Saar base were present as well, along with Janus, and all of them looking ran ragged.

I just sighed. Murphy had his fun after all.

---

"Identify yourselves, or die like scum, dogs!"

I see the Sister was very personable.

She was bedecked in the standard power armor of the Sororitas, with a few flourishes denoting her rank as what I believed to be either equivalent to a sergeant or a lieutenant of some kind. Either way, the decals alone told me that she should have been leading a force of similarly minded-people in the field, which begged the question of just where those people were at.

Mio, of course, was irritated as all hell, and obviously so even without the link we shared. There was not a drop of fear of any kind, though.

"I am Techpriest Miolala Granliss, and they are my retinue. I had received word that there was some kind of archaeotech hidden here, and was dispatched to recover it. By what right do you hold me to account, especially after bailing your ass out of the frying pan with those cultists?"

"A likely story, scum. I can see the mutations plainly, heretic. Accept your fate, and perhaps the Emperor will show leniency in his judgement when you face him in death."

I decided to step in. "You mind calming down and actually hearing us out? We are here for the archaeotech, after all. Maybe you and yours can get a debrief in before the bolts start flying for no reason?"

I saw Janus out of the corner of my eye making motions to shut up. I ignored him.

"And for what reason should I listen to impure mutant scum like yourself? You would have been better served spending your life in this battle to prove your worth to the Imperium. I will allow you to die painlessly as long as you tell me what the truth of this place is."

The deadpan look on my face was likely priceless, and I'm sure Rico wanted to get a picture of it. I noticed Harry crawling around near the entrance to the alcove proper, and watched him flinch back in shock as another five Sisters put in an appearance from within, one of which was carrying what looked to be a Volkite Culverin, although I had never seen one that was that compact before.

Mio was beyond pissed now. "Not going to happen, Zealot. Now, I believe I mentioned I was here on official Mechanicus business, so Step. Aside. Or face the consequences."

The sister gazed at Mio for a moment, and I thought that maybe we could solve this mess…

And then the Sister pulled the trigger on her Bolter.

THAT was a mistake.

I'm pretty sure I was the only one who saw it happen. Mio was, one moment, at point-blank to a bolter aimed at her head. The next, she was fully behind her would-be attacker, having outright dodged the bolt coming at her with contemptuous ease, and in the same motion wrenching the Sister's arms fully behind her in a full Nelson hold. The bolter clanged harmlessly to the floor below.

All motion in the cavern stopped, save for my own, as I calmly walked up to the Sister in question, a deceptively calm look on my face. I stopped once I was close enough to do what I needed to, and then proceeded to slap the everloving dogshit out of her.

All at once, weapons were aimed in my direction from the other Sisters in the area, who proceeded to fan out in order to gain better firing angles. Mio watched them calmly, even as the Sister she was currently clenching tried and failed to break free. Seems that even Power Armor has limits, and my dragon exceeded them quite handily.

I deliberately ignored the blush that broke out on Mio's face.

"Are you done yet?"

Such a simple question, and yet I was almost certain of the answer anyway.

And, right on cue, our dear Sister spat at me, which I lazily dodged. "Never, heretic. Burn in the hell that your masters have created for you."

Okay, I knew that the whole xenophobia thing and religious fervor would be an issue, but seriously? We literally just wiped out one of the largest forces of Chaos Cultists in the area, possibly in the entire Hive, and this bitch has the nerve to try and call us out as mutants and Heretics? As, dare I say it, worshipers of Chaos?

Did we not just literally SAVE YOUR SORRY ASSES!?!

The cavern was quiet. Again. And judging by the looks I was getting, I had said at least part of that out loud. Good, because the fucktards needed to hear it.

"So, just where the fuck do you think you get off, having the nerve to try and call me out as a, and I quote, HERETIC, and thus unworthy of the Emperor's grace? Who in the fuck died and made you God? Because last time I checked, big E hasn't kicked the bucket yet, and not for a lack of effort by the many enemies of the Imperium.

"And even if I was a "mutant", what the fuck does it matter if I am still loyal to the Imperium? Hell, for that matter, Miss Granliss here has clearly stated that she is a Techpriest on official business, and you did not even bother to ask for credentials or even orders. No. you just held her at gunpoint, because you saw something that you didn't like. Well, TOUGH SHIT. We are here, we have business with that cavern, and as much as I do not want to shed loyal Imperial blood, if I have to go through you all to do it then you and your Sisters are all dead women. So choose, Sister. Let us complete our legitimate task, and even help us if you feel it is so important, or stand in our way and die as ignorant fools for nothing. Because I assure you…"

And with that verbal cue, Rico finished the binding spell that he was slowly building up, and completely immobilized the entire force of Sororitas with not even a gesture.

"...you are not winning a fight against us."

I could see the looks of pure RAGE on the faces of the Sisters as they were effectively dismantled without so much as firing a shot, and it warmed my heart. I knew that getting through to this group was an exercise in futility, but at least I could take some solace in their suffering such a humiliating defeat. That it (currently) prevented a bloodbath from breaking out was just a bonus, and had a secondary objective as well of preventing a certain thing from happening that would be bad for everyone involved.

"Well, Sister? I'm waiting."

The growls of frustration were delicious.

---

The Sororitas were more or less stacked into a corner and given a quick medical scan by Rico while the rest of us sorted out the mess that was everything else. Harry was working with Janus and the other Van Saar survivors, getting them set to rights after the onslaught, while Mio and I were moving to inspect the cave proper.

Normally I would have left the healing processes to Mio, who was more familiar with the Imperium as a whole than I was, but she was far too enraged to even bother without ripping the Sister (who I now knew was the Sister Superior of that particular detachment) to shreds. While I did not blame her, the anger seemed to be coming from a weird place. As such, I had her tagging along with me to do STC recovery.

"So, do you actually want to talk about it, or am I just going to have to drag you around by the leash for a bit?"

Mio had the decency to at least blush at the comment, but the anger didn't fade in the slightest. "While I would love to get back to that particular game, now is not the time, and I'm honestly not in the mood, not after that", and she spat in the Sister Superior's general direction. "BITCH so blatantly disregarded everything the Imperium is supposed to stand for. We are meant to fight for the freedom of Man from the horrors of the galaxy, not fighting amongst ourselves over who is more righteous and pure. There are enough enemies out there for everyone and then some."

"That only explains about half of it, Mio. Why did you react as if you expected something completely different?"

Mio sighed. "Because I did."

That didn't really throw me for a loop so much as it merely was mildly surprising. I sensed that there was more and allowed her to continue.

"When we met, I told you that I was chosen to assist you as needed, and was teleported across the galaxy to find you." She paused, seeming to gather a bit of willpower for whatever she wanted to say next. "What I did not tell you was that I was also teleported across dimensions, or perhaps you would prefer realities."

Okay then. That had my attention.

"I am from an Imperium that is apparently much different from this one, at least in one major part: The Imperium here is a fragmented, disjointed thing full of warring factions and petty grudges. My Imperium is not much better, but unlike here we do not fight amongst ourselves, only against the tides of darkness encroaching ever closer, until the time when the Emperor may once again join us in battle."

I took a moment to collect my thoughts from this revelation. Mio's world sounded on the surface like something completely at odds with what I knew of the setting that was Warhammer 40,000, and yet it also poked at a memory of something I had read before. Something meant to be better. No less Dark, but a lot less Grim. I needed more information.

"And of your Emperor? What is his status?"

Mio's response was tinged with both pain and hope. "He sits upon the golden throne, recovering ever so slowly from a grievous injury sustained during the rebellions. All attempts to research the technology used have so far failed to give anything that could accelerate the process of healing him. But he is healing, and when he is recovered…"

That narrowed it down a LOT. I think Mio was from one of the so-called "midhammer" worlds, where things were less about the futility of the struggle and more about the nobility of the sacrifice.

Words came to me. "Countless souls perish in His name, never to be remembered...but their deeds live onwards forevermore in the hearts of those who still fight on." It was something of a tagline for that kind of thing, and a thought process that I agreed with when so few were actually truly capable of affecting the galaxy on the necessary scale to effect true change.

"Yes. We all strive ever forwards, towards the day when the true dawn shall break. Until then, we shall fight."

A sentiment I agreed with wholeheartedly. A smile tugged at my face at the thought.

"Yeah, this is not your home dimension. In this place, the Emperor is not a fallen hero, but a rotting Carcass sitting upon the Throne of Terra, fed thousands of psyker souls every day so that he may never truly die. The Imperium as a whole is a fractious, uncoordinated mess, with everyone and their grandma trying to create their own fiefdom within the greater whole and willing to condemn entire worlds for a bit of political power...and don't even get me started on the shit that Chaos gets up to in this environment.

"Here, the Sisters of Battle acting like overcompensating zealots is not only normal, but expected. The same goes for the utterly fantastic racism that you will be subjected to, never mind that you are a Techpriest. They will still find a way to hate, mostly because I think that it's all that many of them have left. Only their hate."

Mio remained silent for a moment, and then spoke, both in voice and mind.

"We will fix this."

My reply was in the same manner.

"Yes we will."

Now the only problem was to figure out how to do so.

Instead of brooding, I lightly booped Mio on her head, between those wonderful horns of hers. "Don't sweat it too much. We'll figure it out, one way or the other."

Mio's smiles were always a balm for me, even back then. Now that I was legitimately falling for her (and more importantly, willing to admit it even within my own mind), they were almost weapons-grade in their soothing ability.

"Oh, right. There is something I wanted to ask you about." Mio made a vague gesture that seemed like a form of exasperation. "One of the final "tweaks" from the forge integration process just finished recently, and gave me a strange object, and instructions to just ask you about what it was." She then reached into a pouch on her belt and pulled out a small white sphere.

I nearly face faulted at seeing it, especially if it was what I thought it was. "Did you notice anything unusual about that sphere, Mio? Things that did or did not fit right?"

Mio shrugged: "Well, it doesn't feel like a Spherical object, even though I can plainly see that it is one. It's more...spiky? Except for one spot that feels odd. The Data for this is still being set up, so I'm not 100% on what it is. Do you know?"

Ah. that explained it. The user manual hadn't gotten to her yet, but that did bring up a question of sorts that I would need to ask Watts about. Specifically, why now?

Anyway, Mio deserved an explanation. "That, if my guess is correct, is a Valkyrie Core. it's a pretty nifty piece of technology, and will serve you will in the coming days...after you get used to it. Syncing with the things is rough if you don't have a high affinity, and there are many who will never be compatible at all. I have one myself, but due to outside factors it's currently locked down. I can teach you what I know when we get done here."

Again, Mio's love for all things technology shone through her expressions, even as her wonder at the small golf ball of doom washed over our link. I took a moment to indulge in seeing her happy.

Which is probably why we both were not paying attention for what happened next.

We had arrived at the area where the STC was located. It was still here, and from the looks of it, undamaged. I would need to check the databases to make sure that the cultists hadn't gotten to it first, but it was here and available.

What we weren't expecting was the second squad of Sisters hanging around in the area in some rather good hiding spots, waiting for just such a fat and happy target to make an appearance. They opened fire on us almost as soon as we hit their kill box. And it was here that I learned a very valuable lesson.

Bolter shells hurt.

I myself was hit by at least five of the things before I managed to get up a barrier to cover myself. Mio got hit maybe twice more from what I could see. Both of us had our Auras shattered almost outright from the barrage before we got to cover, and the shooting did not stop even then.

I had to physically force Mio to not fire back. I was sorely tempted to as well. But I stayed my hand and made sure that Mio did the same while reinforcing our shields and covering exposed areas, because if my suspicion was correct, then that was the absolute WORST thing that the Sisters could have done.

The sudden feeling of supernatural menace in the air did not bode well for my hopes that I was wrong.

Slowly, the Sisters stopped firing. At first, I suspected it was an ammunition issue, but…

"Come out, and identify yourselves. We will not act against you further unless provoked."

"Like we're supposed to believe that from the people who shot first and are only not asking questions because you can't kill us?" Mio's words rang out over the area. I, on the other hand, was curious as to why we hadn't had the group outside rushing in yet. This alcove was reasonably large, but not THAT big.

"We received orders that I now believe were in error. We will not act against you unless you act against us. All I need is for you to identify yourselves."

I looked at Mio. "you think we should try it?"

"No. Hell no. They are only trying to get past the shielding. The instant we pop up, we die."

"Mio, we can move faster than the bolts now that we know they are there. If nothing else, we can get out of the kill box." I was trying to be semi-reasonable, but the increasing sense of outright Malice was distracting me. Something was coming. Something big.

"Besides, I can feel it too. I do not want to be fighting on two fronts when whatever that thing is decides to wake up."

Slowly, the Sisters began to feel it too, one by one, each of them turning about and seeking the source of the malice with their bolters. I winced as two of the Sisters swept the entire group with the business ends of the weapons several times in their near panic. This was not good. At all.

"Ladies," I called out. "I believe we are about to have some company. I suggest you prepare yourselves for a fight."

Apparently the Sister in charge agreed. "You heard the man, get to cover! Prepare for attack, and MAKE SURE THE STC REMAINS UNDAMAGED!!"

Someone had their priorities straight. Hell, I actually agreed with her. I made a cursory check on Thoth just to see if any of the restrictions had been lifted...and nope, they were all still there, same as always...but a warning had popped up.

[UNKNOWN ENTITY ATTEMPTING TO BREACH LOCAL SPACE. STANDBY FOR DEFENSE RESPONSE]

Wait, what? What Unknown entity was this? I was expecting Bird People shenanigans, not this shit!

The entity made itself known soon after, complete with the sound of thunder and the roar of displace air. Unnoticed to all but myself was the sound of cracking stone.

I...did not know what to call the damned thing. It was clearly not anything that the Imperium had come up with, and yet it did not look precisely like any form of Daemon that I had ever seen. It was just weird.

We all watched as looked around for a bit, clearly noticing the groups of combatants watching it carefully.

And then it turned towards the STC, and made a shockingly quick beeline to the priceless object.

The response was immediate and unforgiving. The Sisters opened up almost immediately on the Daemon(?) peppering it with ceaseless bolter fire. Mio worked to get a shot of her own, but the angles were bad with our barrier setup. Besides, the damned thing was almost as fast as we were, dodging around the bolts like it could see them coming from a mile off, always moving ever closer to that precious relic...at least, until a pillar of Ice rose directly in its path, blocking its access.

No way in hell I was letting it get anywhere near that STC...and I could cast from this position all fucking day without dropping that shield.

The room shook slightly as something outside my field of view happened, and I was forced to put it out of mind as the daemon switched tactics and moved to disable my battlefield control, still dodging the Sisters attempts at putting it down. My guess is that it probably thought that I was a run-of-the-mill psyker that it could slap aside with ease, and then get back to its real job.

Too bad for it that I was not anywhere near that weak or that stupid. And unlike it, I had backup that was not afraid to go after it. Mio and I were more than ready to deal with the threat.

The Daemon charged us, intent on breaking through no matter the cost.

This is probably why it got sideswiped by the goddamned Bird statue as it ran by, the Torizo making a point of doing a Kool-Aid man impression as it came through the Ice wall faster tan even I could track to basically fold that daemon over its knee. Hell, it even LOOKED painful.

The Torizo then proceeded to blatantly and utterly FLEX on that poor daemon. I outright refused to even call it a fight, it was so bad. That daemon quite literally had its ass handed to it before the Torizo opened up with Chozo bullshit and erased it from existence.

The whole time the STC sat untouched and pristine.

I carefully reshaped my barrier so that I had a better view of the Torizo now that it was busy scraping leftover daemon off its foot. To all appearances, it looked like a normal version that you would see in the games...and then I noticed the golden color of its "skin".

Whelp, guess this op is a wash. I'm almost certain I don't have the firepower to deal with a Golden Torizo, especially not one that made wiping out a daemon look easy…

"Alright. Mio, time for us to go. We're not beating that thing anytime soon, and neither are the Sisters. Maybe we can come back later or something, after we build up a bit...why are you looking at me like that?"

Mio had a look on her face that could only be described as "Are you CRAZY?" I wanted to ignore it. I really did...but I value her insight too much to do that to her. Besides, her response to my question was to point at the Torizo.

Which had stopped and was looking directly at us.

I had played enough Metroid to know where this was going. And I knew for an absolute fact that this was going to suck like nothing else.

The Torizo let out a scream that shook the very air itself. And whether we liked it or not, battle was joined.

---

"Do NOT let it hit you no matter what!! You saw what it did to that daemon, I do not want that happening to you!!"

My warning to Mio proved to be timely, as the Torizo used its initial attack to basically bypass my poor barriers like they weren't even there and take a quick swipe at my Dragon. Mio, having seen the attack coming (and heeded my warning) dodged out of the way as quickly as possible while opening up the distance between them.

I took the opportunity to get a potshot off at the damned thing...only to watch in horror as it snatched my mass effect-boosted slug out of the air like it was a mere dandelion in the wind, and contemptuously toss it aside. A repeat attempt with more bullets had the same thing happening.

The Sisters of Battle were only slightly confused by the unfolding events, but still put in their best work as things heated up, spraying bolter fire downrange at the Torizo in an attempt to do something looking like damage to it.

The bolts were dodged with the same ease that one would dodge a particularly slow ball. Hell, it all but mocked the poor sisters while doing it just with motions alone. This, of course, stirred them up into an even greater zeal and fury...with an equally dismal success rate. If anything, it was making my life harder, as I was running out of safe spaces to dodge into with the fucking bolts everywhere.

The Torizo came after me next, and it took everything I had to dodge out f the way of its casual swipe at my person, even while it was still dodging the goddamned bolts being shot at it. Mio's attempt to use her shotgun on it failed, and it nearly took me out in the process when the damned bird statue somehow redirected the shot at me. A hasty shield took care of the impact, and nearly got me killed as the Torizo put on the speed to take advantage of the opening.

The fucker wasn't even trying. We were getting our asses kicked, and it was barely trying.

Well, fuck you too. Let's see how you like it when the thunder comes to you.

I took a brief moment to center myself while the Torizo was focused on Mio. I had gotten a bit of practice in with this system, but most of the time I'd had to this point was spent getting more proficient with the things that I could teach to others, and even our breakneck training session mostly focused on O. Arts, primarily due to the now proven lifesaving effects of many of the booster techs in keeping me out of the line of fire. Even so, I hadn't neglected my magical studies, and this spell should do the trick. Besides, it's not like the system is hard to use or anything…

I focused my intent into the spell I wanted to form, shaped it as needed, and applied my final, personal step to the process to keep from having to chant an aria for the damned thing. And with a simple gesture, I chucked a very respectable bolt of lightning at the Torizo.

Who dodged it before I had even fired.

Seriously? How the fuck were we supposed to beat this thing?

The sisters were useless. And I mean completely useless. The bolts were proving to do very little in the way of damage, and that was the few times the fucker actually let them hit it. Mio, on the other hand, was getting increasingly frustrated and desperate in equal amounts as all of her attacks failed to connect even as the Torizo sped up more to keep the pressure on. My one attempt at a G-Laser shot was dodged out of with the same ease as the rest of the guns.

Fuck. I was getting a message I did not want to hear right now.

Torizo were normally guardians of things, meant to act as a final test for those who would claim the power of the Chozo as their own. More often than not, they proved to be the one of the many tests of the bounty hunter Samus Aran.

I was let to assume that this was a test as well, but of what? The Torizo could do things that I cannot do? How do I fix it? How to I get past it, especially without any real support?

Fuck it. I would just wing it with Mio and pray that I was right.

{Mio, we have to get in close.}

{Yeah, I figured as much. The fucker is dodging everything I throw at it, not matter what. You got a plan? Because I'm fresh out.}

{Yeah. The plan is simple: Melee ranged weaponry. It literally is a test, and one that we've failed simply by agitating the door guard. This was going to happen no matter what anyway.}

At least, that was my reasoning. If I was wrong, well, death is one of those things, is it not?

And so I grabbed my rifle, activated the Bayonet/Spear emitter I'd built in, and charged.

This time the Torizo did NOT immediately dodge, and the sudden understanding that broke out across the room was nearly a solid object. Mio drew down her polearm, I had my bayonet, and the Sisters were pulling out what looked like combat knives.

I doubted anyone but Mio's chances of success.

As I moved in, the Torizo took another lazy swipe at me, which I chose to parry instead of just dodge, to see if I could gauge something.

The resulting lack of an attempt to counterattack after I had successfully parried the blow (which was surprisingly light for what I'd seen it doing) proved to me that this was one of those bosses. We would need to keep engaging in melee in order to stand a chance.

Fortunately for us, Mio liked close combat. Her strength granted to her by her newfound lineage was only icing on the cake, really. Her polearm lashed out seemingly at random, only to find purchase within the Torizo at odd times and even odd angles. How she kept her hands on it, I do not know.

The Sisters were no slouches in this department either, using their combat knives and power-armored strength to close in and attempt to hack the Torizo to death. Unfortunately, the Creature proved that you needed to be able to hit things in order to deal damage, as it still was dodging blows, but now it was adding in some unusually creative and humiliating countermoves to the mix, too. At least one of the sisters got hit with the whipped cream pie setup. It would not end there, of that I am certain.

As for me? I made sure to stick as hard to that Torizo as I could, and went to getting as many hits in with my impromptu spear as possible, making a point to keep dodging blows and even going out of my way to defend the sisters if I could from the more obnoxious attacks headed their way.

This continued on for who knows how long, with no real solution in sight, and I was pissed and scared in equal measures. Also confused, as I'm pretty sure we're making enough noise in here to draw attention to the fucking fight happening. So where the hell was everyone else at?

Whatever. It did';t matter. Right now, we needed to take this thing down, even if that meant we had to do it the slow way. Too bad for us that even our best weapons weren't doing much to it.

I tried again with some ice-type magic battlefield shaping, only to have the Torizo break apart the ice wall and start using the chunks as projectiles. Mio tried a full dozen experimental originium arts with equal success. The sisters couldn't even touch it. This shit was getting ridiculous.

In frustration, I threw out a completely random and untyped blast of magic with a seeker package on it. It was meant solely as a distraction to give me more room to close in.

Instead, the ball of energy hit and did more damage than anything we'd tried to that point.

As much as I was kicking myself for not trying it earlier, at least we had a weakness.

"Mio, give me some room to open up a bit. I'm gonna end this!!"

As I found out that day, Torizo have excellent hearing. I also found out that walls are very unyielding when in cave systems, as the Torizo all but teleported to my side and effectively bitchslapped me into said wall. Mio's followup magic bursts were not answered with anywhere near as much fury,

"Ugh...message received. No gloating until after the fight is over...ow."

And damn, but that hurt.

I lost track of the battle as I took a moment to heal myself. I thought I heard Mio screaming in frustration, but I wasn't sure with the way my head was pounding at the moment. Hell, I was almost to the point where I would be afraid to use a few medical arts, but thankfully the art I was using to heal myself was designed for almost that precise situation.

And now that I could see straight again, it was obvious that Mio was getting her ass kicked trying to buy time for me. I intended to use it.

I gathered as much mana as I could within a short timeframe and started setting up a bombardment. Yes, I ran the risk of a cave collapse if this went wrong, but it was not going to go wrong. Not with the way I was building it. If anything, the danger to the environment would be next to nothing with this.

Gathering the power took very little time, and shaping to my will with the appropriate math even less so. I made a very deliberate noise in order to draw Mio's attention and alert her to dodge, then fired immediately afterwards. No hesitation whatsoever. This proved critical when the Torizo picked up on the signal too, and moved to vacate the target zone of the big ball of doom…

Which then split itself apart into multiple little balls of doom, all of which had homing properties.

The damage was severe. I thought I saw an arm nearly get blown off, and a leg was sort of crippled too. The Torizo slowly sank to its knee, and small explosions started going off in and on its frame. The light in its eyes faded to nothing. Internally, I let out a small cheer. We'd won.

That was when the explosions stopped.

The Torizo's eyes lit right back up again...and a pair of wings extended from its back.

"Oh FUCK no. We are NOT having any of that!!!"

Mio hit the fucker with everything she had. Magic, technology, it did not matter. If she had it, it was getting used. The Torizo rocked under the assault, and I saw what looked like an arm get blown off in the onslaught. Not to be left behind, I added in my own firepower, peppering the opposite side from Mio to make sure it stayed down.

And this time, it did, exploding with a (relatively) small blast that was nonetheless felt in the pressure wave as it washed over us.

I carefully moved to inspect the wreckage, wanting to make sure that the thing was dead, when I spotted something. A glowing ball object, resting quite calmly in the pile like nothing was wrong. A second object had rolled off to the side, apparently dislodged by the blast somehow.

I carefully approached, and picked up the ball with my telekinesis...and everything changed.

All at once, a bunch of things started happening. The Sisters cried out at something or another, Mio seemed to have a panic attack as I felt something interface with her system in a very intimate manner...and Thoth finally came back online, and with a message too.

[Congratulations on defeating the Challenge Chamber!!! We hope that it was to your satisfaction. A copy of this has been added to your dimensional space so that you can try again if you feel like it. It is very good for practicing combat techniques, so please make use of it.

As compensation for our little prank, we have bestowed another gift upon you and your mate. Please enjoy, and know that we wish you the best of luck in your endeavors.

PS: there are other challenges hidden in areas that we knew you would be visiting. Seek them out for interesting prizes!

--The Chozo]

The fuck? This was a prank? A goddamned PRANK?!? Why the fuck--

[Systems integration complete. Restarting …]

Eh?

A swirl of light surrounded me, and I unexpectedly found myself in my fully expressed Valkyrie Frame, except…

This was NOT my frame. At least, not the way I had left it.

For one, everything from the lowliest system up to the most critical had been redone with a master's hand, absolutely flawless function built-in with no sacrifice to form whatsoever. Everything from movement systems to power generation was over a hundred times more efficient and powerful than I had ever dreamed of happening, and it seemed to be synergizing with Thoth himself to push that even further as the blatantly new systems synced with my biology. I had weapons now, built into the gauntlets of my armor, at the cost of the hands and gauntlets themselves being only slightly thinker as a result, which I could handle just fine.

The most obvious feature, though, was the change in the heads-up display, which had modified itself to have a single very conspicuous counter at the top now.

|ENERGY 99|​

I could barely believe it. I was wearing it and could barely believe it.

[Sorry for the confusion, sir. But the upgrades are complete, and everything is good to go.

And yes, this is what you think it is. They said it was part of the compensation. That item you picked up is integrating now.}

And another shock to the system as the item finished its process of integrating, far faster than even Thoth had ever been in doing so, and a very familiar time started to play as a message popped up on my HUD.

|MORPH BALL|
Take the form of a ball and access narrow passageways.​

My laughter was joyous and plentiful, as I enjoyed the realization of a dream of decades.

I had a Chozo Power suit.

---

---

I had intended to stop before the Torizo battle, but felt that I needed to get this out of the way now, while I still had the big for it. Now, Blaster Master Zero 3 awaits me.

Spoiler: Chapter Perks

-Arcanatarium (Twokinds) (400CP)
A trained mage can throw out spells on the fly, but the really impressive magic is prepared far in advance. For that, you'll need a place to work. This workshop is fully outfitted to support a practiced mage in all their pursuits. There's a permanent magic circle to focus your energies, a table of alchemical equipment for the brewing of potions, a wellstocked library full of tomes and scrolls of arcane knowledge, and any other dedicated workspace you'll need for working magic. This workshop also comes stocked with plenty of ingredients and materials for your alchemicy and artifact crafting, including rarer materials like precious metals and gems. You'll still need to provide any extremely rare or unique items, but this personalized workspace will have anything else you need for your own arcane pursuits. This property can take any form you wish, from a traditional tower to a basement laboratory. Post-jump, this workshop can be imported and attached to any property you own

Chozo Challenge Chamber (200 Milestone): (Custom perk, thanks to Cheetored20 for creation)
This room adjusts size and shape for your testing needs, whatever they may be. It can even provide test dummies for target practice...including live fire variants. Just make sure you don't go in there without anything to test, or it might just try to test you.

 

[Cheetored20]

Woot! Chozo tech Chozo tech, gotta love that Chozo tech!


I loved that test! And the reference AM2R was great! Loved the sisters learning that they weren't even pond scum!

I wonder what is going to happen with the sisters of battle now? Will they just let you get the STC?

 

[Aedenvuur]

I don't understand when people kill off the ability to make their IP into fanfiction. When your fans can't engage with the content after it's consumed their enthusiasm for it dies pretty quickly. I'm convinced that's why Raymond E Feist's stories have less Brand recognition than Rick Riordan's stuff. The fanfiction just isn't there to keep it culturally relevant.

 

[Cheetored20]

I don't understand when people kill off the ability to make their IP into fanfiction. When your fans can't engage with the content after it's consumed their enthusiasm for it dies pretty quickly. I'm convinced that's why Raymond E Feist's stories have less Brand recognition than Rick Riordan's stuff. The fanfiction just isn't there to keep it culturally relevant.

Click to shrink...

Who? Also I'm pretty sure there's some Chinese law that is forcing them to do this, so they can't steal it.

 

[prussian-granadier]

Woot! Chozo tech Chozo tech, gotta love that Chozo tech!


I loved that test! And the reference AM2R was great! Loved the sisters learning that they weren't even pond scum!

I wonder what is going to happen with the sisters of battle now? Will they just let you get the STC?

Click to shrink...

it's not like they can stop him, the worst thing they could do is run away and ask for reinforcements, using their political power to hunt the team down...

but that's is against imperial doctrine, no retreat and all that

I don't understand when people kill off the ability to make their IP into fanfiction. When your fans can't engage with the content after it's consumed their enthusiasm for it dies pretty quickly. I'm convinced that's why Raymond E Feist's stories have less Brand recognition than Rick Riordan's stuff. The fanfiction just isn't there to keep it culturally relevant.

Click to shrink...

They are idiots, it's the same thing that happens with Star Wars, trek, and a host of other media, if it looks like the fans are doing a better job than the IP holder then they will fall on them like a sack of bricks

It's what happened to Axanar

the point is they fundamentally don't understand that the point of a work of art is to be a piece of culture, they believe that since they hold the IP then they own the work and everything around it

they forget that art is not a thing with actual value since they are CEOs and executives and can't deal with abstracts

It's why Zack snider was able to make a movie that was better than what they released in every way, they don't care what you do with the IP as long as it makes money

to them Warhammer 40k and Star Trek are no more special than trolls 2 or the emoji movie, money is the only thing that matters

Who? Also I'm pretty sure there's some Chinese law that is forcing them to do this, so they can't steal it.

Click to shrink...

No such law exist, and it's irrelevant anyway since even a fake product increases the fame of the original, people make fake AR-15s for Christ sakes, with colt markings and everything

it's not like they will convince people to use the brand version of something, they will simply make people stop caring about the IP at all

people don't care about the next Star Wars movie, they don't care about the Star Trek series, they were disappointed and will now ignore the IP

they will rant about it on YouTube, but that will turn to apathy

that will result in the IP being dropped

which will result in some creative type being given liberty to do whatever he wants with it

it will be well received and so it will make money

the execs will notice that and tried to milk it for money, ruining the IP

the cycle continue, so forever onwards

 

[Aedenvuur]

Who? Also I'm pretty sure there's some Chinese law that is forcing them to do this, so they can't steal it.

Click to shrink...

Fckn China man. They do have a problem with plagiarizing stuff over there so I'm not actually surprised.

 

[Squid]

Oh, man, called it a few chapters ago! Chozo/ Valkyrie suit GET! And AdMech Waifu gets some kind of Chozo upgrade, whether its another suit in HER core, or upgrades to her augmetics, it's good shit.

 

[Cyrus2]

I'm super curious about what's on the STC and if they can get it back to the warehouse without any more incidents happening.

 

[theaceoffire]

The boats were dodged with the same ease that one would dodge a particularly slow ball.

Click to shrink...

Holy fuck who's throwing a boat!?

I don't even want you to fix this, just modify the rest of the chapter so someone's throwing a boat!

{yeah,

Click to shrink...

{yeah. The

Click to shrink...

Both of these lines need to be capitalized.

 

[stads]

ah the murder clowns got to love them beside's the orks there the most fun faction imo

 

[LollipoPReapeR]

Doesn't MC have a mental connection he used literally just before the fight with his waifu? Then he goes and shouts instructions... Man. Also I hope he won't just stand take contant shit from zealots and do nothing.

At least he got himself a Chozo suit. Hopefully he actually uses it unlike Thoth.

I wonder what he plans to do with the STC. Sell it to AdMech for a Writ or a Forgeworld? Or a normal world.